The embodiments described herein relate generally to methods and systems for creating a gas curtain inlet for a detector of a substance of interest.
Over the past several decades, various field analytical technologies have been developed for the detection of substances of interest, such as explosives and illicit drugs. One exemplary issue with the efficacy of these technologies is that atmospheric air in the environment can be highly contaminated with potential interferants or contain high moisture levels where detectors, such as trace detectors, are used. Examples of such environments are air cargo facilities, sea ports, battle fields, and cities with poor air quality index.
Most trace detectors perform at an optimal level (i.e., good sensitivity and selectivity) when they are free of contaminated and/or moist gas introduced from the environment. Contaminants and/or moist gas can suppress signal responses for reactant ion peaks (RIP) or generate signals that interfere with detection windows. Additionally, when contaminants and/or moisture from the environment are introduced into the system, a longer amount of time is required for the system to re-establish a steady state chemistry, which lowers the system's throughput.
The present disclosure overcomes the deficiencies of the prior art by creating a cleaned, dried and/or doped air into an inlet of a detector and blocking out atmospheric air without having to make the inlet a sealed system.